Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tursunzade: Oman booked their place in the next stage of qualifying for the 2012 Olympic qualifiers after a 3-1 win over Tajikistan on Wednesday saw the Gulf side advance with a 7-2 first round aggregate victory.
But just as they did in the first leg in Muscat, Oman had to come from a goal down with Tajikistan’s Davronjon Tukhtasunov opening the scoring at the Metallurg Stadium with three minutes of the first-half remaining.
The Tajiks were still trailing 4-2 on aggregate but Tukhtasunov’s strike would certainly have given his side a huge boost going into the second half.
However, any hopes that the Central Asians could turn the tie around suffered a massive blow when Hussain Al Hadhri converted a penalty just four minutes after the restart before Oman extended their advantage three minutes later through Fahad Al Jalaboubi, a scorer in the 4-1 first-leg victory a fortnight ago.
Al Hadhri rounded off the scoring in the 73rd minute with his second of the game as Oman will join ten other Round 1 winners and the 13 highest ranked teams (based on the qualifiers and tournament proper at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing) in the Olympic Football Tournament London 2012 Asian Qualifiers Round 2 draw, which takes place at AFC House on March 30.